Meeting Tai the Elephant – Star of ‘Water for Elephants’

Kinker Tink and I (Kinker Jen) were extended the most extraordinary invitation to visit Tai and her sisters at the Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT) ranch in Perris, California on February 19! It was a magical day and a rare treat – HTWT doesn’t usually allow guests at the ranch. Our visit was part of an overall goodwill mission to raise further awareness to EEHV, an elephant disease that is wiping out the Asian elephant population at an alarming rate. EEHV recently claimed the life of JP, the 3 1/2 year old son of Rosie, Tai’s sister, which I (very sadly) blogged about a couple weeks ago.

Tink and I arrived bearing gifts – a giant fruit basket and bag of peppermints for Tai, and a bouquet of spring flowers and Team Rosie pins for Kari, Tai’s human mommy. We didn’t really know what to expect, we just knew we’d get to see Tai in person. Our expectations were met and completely exceeded! Kari had invited a handful of friends and supporters of elephant conservation the same day as our visit. We were given the grand tour of the HTWT 10 acre elephant ranch, treated to a circus-worthy show, fed the gift basket contents to Tai, given an elephant ride atop Becky, and peppered Tai with questions about filming with Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. In all, we lived it up at the HTWT ranch for about 3 hours!

People that know me would say that I am never speechless, but you’ll witness my speechlessness as I babble and giggle my way through our Q&A with Tai! Who knew I’d fan-girl over an elephant?

Read our Tai-normous filming facts and see the pics and vid after the jump!

Here are a few WFE filming tidbits that we learned during our visit:

The studio in fact brought Rob, Reese and Christoph out to convice them to do the movie.

Rob fell in love with Tai after doing loads of tricks with her and seeing how intelligent she is. #TaiPattz anyone? He was all over her, thrilled to be in her presence. After the meeting when he was driving back to LA, he was calling people telling them how excited he was meeting her and doing the movie.

Reese loved Tai. They have a routine together in the movie, so she trained with Tai for countless hours over many weeks.

Christoph brought his whole family to meet Tai.

Everyone was a sweetheart and all were genuinely nice and very respectful of Tai.

Tai would recognize Rob and Reese because they spent so much time together on the set.

Tai would spend days at a time out on set to make it easy on her.

Rosie (the real one!) is also in WFE! She has a bit part in the “modern circus” scene.

Reese and Tai did a Vogue magazine shoot – not sure when it hits stands but probably March or April edition.

We’ve got a 15 minute video and LOTS of pictures that summarize our visit with Tai and her sister, Rosie (the real Rosie!). Enjoy and don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section at the end of this page!

As we get closer to the premiere of Water for Elephants movie, we’ll be auctioning off Tai’s self-portrait to raise money for EEHV research. In the meantime, if you have just $1 to spare, please forsake that Starbuck’s latte today and donate to EEHV research at www.elephantconservation.org.

Tai’s WFE movie memorabilia!

Tai photos from her WFE on-location shoots!

Elephant awareness on display at HTWT

Kari, Tai’s human mommy, educating us about the elephants

Tai (right) hanging out with her sister Kitty (left)

Kitty sharing her food with Tai! PRESH!

Being introduced to Tai!

Tai eating palms – one of her favorite foods! Kitty (left)

Dixie and Becky hanging out!

Rosie

Rosie starting her daily bath!

“Don’t miss under my arms!”

Rosie getting her tummy washed!

Washing those hard to reach areas!

Rosie gets a screb from “someone’s” kid!

hangin’ out

Rosie was so enjoying her bath!

Natures mouthwash!

The elephants weigh in each week!

They don’t call it “Have Trunk Will Travel” for nothing!

Links of CUTENESS!

Rosie waving hello to her visitors!

Rosie is so agile!

Rosie gives a flower to Joanne, her trainer

Rosie lifting Dave the trainer!

Rosie playing catch!

Rosie being super cute and eliciting cheers from us!

Rosie hula-hooping!! She LOVED IT!

Hula-hooping with Rosie!!

Rosie demonstrating how she lays for her weekly vet check up!

Rosie posing for pictures!

Rosie headstand!

Purple is my favorite color, too, Rosie!

Watch Rosie paint!

Rosie bowing after painting a lovely picture!

Rosie’s painting!

Jen and fam riding Becky! Future Christmas card cover!

Tink and Chelsea riding Dixie!

The Team Rosie gift basket and peppermints we brought Tai!

Tai saying “hello” to us!

Tai and Gary, her human daddy!

Tai has very distinguishable elephant freckles!

Tai you are so beautiful!

Tai doing the pageant wave!

Jen and Tai!

Tink and Tai!

Tink and Tai with her ears perky!

Chelsea and Tai!

Feeding Tai

Rosie and Dixie

Monet’s got nothing on Tai!

Tai painting!

100,000 muscles in Tai’s trunk help her to paint!

Tai taking a bow

Tai posing with her self-portrait!

Tai’s self-portrait to be auctioned for IEF charity!

Tai, Kari, Tink & Jen

Autographed by Sara Gruen!!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!It’s giveaway time!

Water for Elephants is on the horizon and we thought it would be fun to pass the time by giving stuff away! But what prizes?? We’ve done buttons and tshirts… Well, our official partner, Algonquin Books, really came through for us, offering movie tie-in editions of Water for Elephants!! Even more exciting? Sara Gruen signed them all! *Wild Kinker Applause*

Autographed by Sara Gruen!!

Each week until April 22 we will be giving away a trade paperback copy of Water for Elephants signed by Sara Gruen!

Here’s how it works: Each Monday, starting today, we will tweet the code you need to enter on Twitter. Our Twitter is: H2OforElephants. Giveaways will run from noon on Monday until noon on Friday (Pacific Standard Time). We’ll use Tweetaways to draw a winner every Friday until Water for Elephants opens in the USA 4/22/11. The giveaway is worldwide and you only need to enter once per week to be eligible.

Huge thanks to Algonquin Books and Sara Gruen for making this possible!

We’re looking into a separate giveaway for our readers who aren’t on Twitter. Watch the blog and our Facebook page for that announcement.

Wonderful video, I love when Rosie trumpets!! My kids loved watching this too (my little guy might have a crush on your Ava, Jen). So glad you guys got to do this and help raise awareness at the same time.

Ahhh I loved all of it! The video was awesome, thank you for sharing your time with the elephants!! It must have been so fun! I have a huge soft spot for elephants, they are so intelligent, beautiful and amazing creatures.

This was just wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. It was such a special experience for you to have and it brings those degrees of separation just that little bit closer. April is really starting to feel close now *bites fist in excitement*.

Hello to the lovely Tink and Jen,
thank you for sharing your trip with us
each of the elephants was hugely gorgeous
sad to hear about their plight in the wild
but am sure your promotion was worth the while
easy to see how the elephants affected our Rob
and how they charmed every one of the film’s mob
read about Rob’s experience in some past interview
when he talked about what he and Tai got up to
she took him up bodily with her trunk
and sniffed for peanuts on our hunk
what a lucky and pervy pachyderm she was
would fit right in with all Robloving saints and h00rs!
really appreciated every bit of the post
and how you tried to find out who was loved the most!
no matter that no single name was given
no female animal is immune to Rob Pattinson!
ciao bella!

OMR! She is just so talented. Her coordination, puts me to shame. LOL I loved the video, just wonderful. You are so lucky to have met these talented actors. Thank you for sharing.
I do have one question. Did they explain how Tai got the part? Was it a special talent that was needed for this role that maybe separated her from the others? Would love to know. Just curious

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. It was a day I will never ever forget. I can definitely see why Rob cried when Tai wrapped filming. I was very sad to leave myself! They are wonderful beings. One thing I did not include in my write up was when I posed for pictures with Tai she wrapped her trunk around my waist and was purring, like a kitten, her trunk slightly vibrating my torso. Her trunk feels somewhat like a reptile’s skin, it’s hard on the top but soft in the grooves. I could have stayed with her for days.

Thank you for allowing me to meet Tai. I was very reluctant to go on the trip with Carol, because I am afraid of large animals … of any kind. I have ridden a horse three times, and been bucked off three times. I was bitten by a large dog when I was a child, so I don’t like dogs … especially large ones. I had no idea I would fall in love with elephants. It was the experience of a lifetime. Thanks again…Mel

I am shocked to see how deluded all of you are! Do you honestly believe these amazing animals are willing to play happily for humans without being beaten and electro-shocked? Do you believe in Santa Claus?

This poor animal – as all circus animals!!! – was severely mistreated and tortured in order to play the stupid tricks you see on this movie. And a few “cute” pics cannot cover the truth.

Do you think setting up like a teddy bear is natural for an elephant or tipping forward and raising her feet in the air? This clip was so sad. Another magnificent creature “appearing” to be okay!!!??? What did she have to go through to look that “polished” in her tricks. Notice the hook Joanne had!!
Fear, that is how she is kept in line. As the elephants from Hawthorne were taken from the owner by the FDA, so should the elephants from this organization be placed in a sanctuary where they can be, guess what, elephants!!

Recent Tweets

See The Trailers

Under the Big Top

Sister Sites

Archives

DISCLAIMER

This is an unofficial fan site for Water for Elephants movie for entertainment purposes only.
This site is not affiliated with the film, its actors, or its producers and distributors. No copyright infringement is intended. Please advise if you own something seen on this site (proof of ownership needs to be supplied) and would like it removed by contacting waterforelephantsfilm [at] gmail [dot] com.